WestConn women's soccer team reaches LEC semifinals

Tom Renner, Contributing Writer

Published
5:23 am EST, Sunday, December 5, 2010

DANBURY -- The goal of any coach is to have his team playing its best at the end of the season when the games matter most.

That's precisely where veteran coach Joe Mingachos has the Western Connecticut State University women's soccer team, which has endured a roller-coaster season but is now just 90 minutes away from playing for the Little East Conference championship.

The fourth-seeded Colonials (10-9-1) advanced to the semifinals of the LEC Tournament with a convincing 2-0 win over fifth-seeded University of Southern Maine Tuesday night at the Westside Athletic Complex.

WestConn will travel to meet top-seeded Keene State of New Hampshire in Thursday's semifinals, and Mingachos believes his team is ready for the task.

"I feel like we're peaking at the right time,'' Mingachos said. "It's going to be tough going up to Keene, but I think we're ready to go and give it our best shot."

Tracy Sales and Angela Wozniak scored in Tuesday's win for the Colonials, who had possession in the Southern Maine end for most of the game. Southern Maine ends its season 4-15.

Sales scored in the 31st on an assist from Nicole Sieber, a senior from Newtown and an Immaculate High product. Sieber carried the ball down the left side and cut back toward the net before delivering a sweet pass to Sales, who was left unmarked inside the box about 15 yards from the goal. Sales' shot cleanly beat Huskies' keeper Alison Bradley.

"The coaches had been telling me to take it to the baseline and then get it back, instead of sending a cross over to the keeper,'' Sieber said. "That's what I tried to do."

Wozniak gave WestConn an insurance goal in the 59th minute with a beautiful corner kick that curled just inside the far post for her sixth goal of the season.

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Wozniak and Sieber are part of a senior class that played its final home game for WestConn. The senior class also includes New Milford's Amanda Genova, another Immaculate product, Domonique Pascascio and Kelli Veras, and they have made their mark.

WestConn has made four straight NCAA appearances, including a Final Four appearance in 2007. They have won 66 games in those four years and three league titles.

The Colonials went 4-2-1 in the LEC this year, but had lost just one game in league play over the last three seasons.

This season has been a struggle to find consistency, but the Colonials finally seem to have found some momentum. They are 4-1-1 in their last six games, including a tie with Keene State on Oct. 24.

"Toward the end of the season we felt we've been playing better,'' Genova said. "Now we're playing WestConn soccer. We just struggled in the beginning."

Mingachos believes that if the Colonials can maintain their current level of play, they could be hoisting another LEC trophy after Saturday's championship game.

"I firmly believe that if we play the way we're capable we can beat anybody, as long as we finish our chances,'' Mingachos said. "Even tonight, we had a little trouble doing that. I really think we played well all season. This was just one of those years where you dominate a game but don't score, and then you give up a late goal and go home a loser. But now I think we're playing our best soccer of the year."